SUNDAY AND MONDAY...

The last two days have been fantastic...

First of all we are glad Ron is still alive.  He almost got hit, not once, but twice by cars etc...everything is backwards here.
There are signs on the pavement that say LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT etc. and he stepped out into oncoming cars...first a minivan and then a truck!  Because he looked the other way!

1.  No Starbucks...a local coffee shop

2.  Killmainham Gaol...jail...mid 1770s
Amazingly eerie...there were many prisoners housed and executed from the 1916-1919 uprising to make Ireland free from Britain.  Also men, women, and children were housed in the same cell.  I can't even imagine the abuse of all kinds.
During the potato famine people were trying to get themselves arrested because prisoners got two meals a day.

3.  Guinness beer tour...first of all Guinness is a black yucky beer.  After the self guided tour, we wandered in the "learn to pour your own Guinness" class.  Ron poured his perfectly, and received a certificate.  Then time for the group picture.  Everyone is holding beer and certificate and looking straight ahead...except Ron who is looking right to the wall.
I asked him why he wasn't looking straight...he said, "I thought she said the camera was to the right."

Oscar Wilde said, "If we could teach the English to talk and the Irish to listen...

Did you know Ron is part Irish?

4..  Trinity college...and the Book of Kells...toured the college with a student...and then went into the Book of Kells.  They are illuminated/illustrated pages that the monks painted...amazingly intricate!  Stunning!  But what else do they have to do?
We also went into the old library...wooden craftsmanship all around...beautiful old library.

I might have also bought Kristen something in the library book shop that she will love.

5.  We went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel called Matt the Thresher...excellent choice.  Ron had a fish called turbot...and I mad fried shrimp, chips, and a salad.

6.  We have made 4 trips around the city on the hop on hop off bus...using it for transportation.  Good guides, good history.

Tomorrow we leave for two nights in Waterford...Ron wants wine glasses.

It rained today...and the tour guide said, "It only rains twice a week in Ireland...once for three days, and the other for four.  (But this is the first time it rained and only for maybe 20 minutes.  I had not seen rain in a long time and I didn't care.)

Oh, we told the waiter that Mary Flynn had red hair...and he said, She doesn't even need a passport...she is one of us.